On July 21, 1910, Hassam wrote to the artist J. Alden Weir that he had been in Paris for two weeks and found it dirty and noisy. He added, “I have made a 14th July from the balcony here”— evidently referring to this painting, which depicts the street below the Hôtel l’Empire (located at 7, rue Daunou, near the Opéra) during Bastille Day celebrations. For Hassam, the holiday would have recalled the Fourth of July, perhaps prompting him to exaggerate the number of American flags displayed. The canvas anticipates the Flag series Hassam began in New York six years later, which included "Avenue of the Allies, Great Britain, 1918" (67.187.127).